1. Field of the Invention
The field of the invention relates generally to medical diagnostic tools and more particularly to the use of comparative handwriting analysis in the assessment of conditions which affect fine motor skills such as neurological disorders.
2. Background Information
In providing medical care, the ability to diagnosis and monitor characteristic features of a condition is crucial to the management of that condition. For example, early diagnosis of Parkinson's disease can lead to early therapeutic intervention, the effectiveness of which requires continual monitoring and assessment. Often the diagnosis of a neurological disorder, for example, only occurs awhile after the initial onset of the disease, because the outward manifestations of the disease may begin subtly and progress only slowly over time. Affected individuals may be oblivious to gradually progressive changes in neurological functioning while early detection and intervention may delay or prevent the worsening of functions or of the underlying disorder. Additionally, even after detection, continuous monitoring is generally needed in order to assess the effectiveness of interventions and the progress of the underlying disease.
For conditions which affect fine motor skills such as neurological diseases and myopathic disease, changes in handwriting frequently are observed. For instance, with the onset of aging or a neurological disorder, the handwriting of a subject alters and in general deteriorates. Properly correlated to known benchmarks, handwriting can be used as an indicator of the onset of neurological disorders or non-neurological disorders which affect fine motor skills, and can be used to track progress of these disorders. For example, it has been observed that with the onset of Alzheimer's disease, there is increased frequency in the lifting, wavering, or constriction of pen-stroke. Similarly, it has been noted that early symptoms of Parkinson's disease can include rigidity and resistance to movement. Such symptoms however slight can manifest themselves in handwriting. In fact, the so-called “pill rolling” movement associated with Parkinson's can result in distinctive handwriting features that can be used as an early indicator to the onset of Parkinson's disease. Though early indications of this sort may be indiscernible by human analysis, such indicators can be detected through, for example, the use of computer enhancement and computer handwriting analysis.
Since these types of disorders are often progressive, by noting trends in the changes in certain features of handwriting over a long period of time, early detection of the onset of these types of conditions and the clinical progression of these conditions can be achieved. Features in handwriting such as character topology, dimensions, spacing, proportions and ratios, skew, stroke curvature, line continuity, to name just a few, can be objectively quantified and described. Using analytical and statistical techniques, handwriting features from an individual can then be compared to specific handwriting features known to be indicators of a disorder affecting fine motor skill. This information can be used as a diagnostic assessment tool in the detection and management of that disorder.
Unfortunately, matching handwriting features and quantifying the differences between matched features is conventionally a very time consuming and laborious activity involving highly skilled technicians reviewing samples under microscopes.